This song stands in bright contrast to OneRepublic’s more well-known works such as “Counting Stars” or “Apologize.”
With a noisy rock and roll electric guitar riff, vocals reminiscent of Led Zeppelin, and some cryptic lyrics, Ryan Tedder pays homage to the rowdy rock music of the seventies or eighties.

The title itself often refers to lighting up something to smoke, but in this context the phrase has a playful double, or maybe even triple, meaning. Ryan is saying he can light up her life and bring fun and excitement into it. Eyes can also light up, with love, delight, laughter, etc. The lyrics are also rife with things to light up like “a million drums of kerosene.”
Ryan uses this unusual language metaphorically as a harmless symbol of good times and adventure, adapting the characteristics of classic rock music that some people object to – the drug culture, the harsh electric sound – into something of this time.
The metaphor is brought clearly into focus when he says he’s “acting like your favorite drug.”